EU AI Grants

AI integration in CCSI work practice: catalysing innovation and competitiveness is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Insights, recommendations, strategies, guidelines, methods and tools supporting full AI integration in CCSI practices become available to CCSI, policymakers, and stakeholders. Scenarios for co-created solutions tailored to CCSI needs, utilizing quality data and federated data sources, along with digital infrastructures, and inclusive cooperation processes, become available. Generally made available AI-powered and ethically designed solutions, tools and services in several CCSI areas benefit creators, cultural professionals, and society, including persons with disabilities and other specific needs, fostering innovative creative expressions and improving creative business models while preserving and enhancing cultural diversity, and inclusion. By mastering ethical and inclusive AI, CCSI are empowered drivers of culture, innovation, competitiveness and societal wellbeing. Scope: AI technologies are transformative, providing unprecedented opportunities for human creativity, experimentations and co-creations. AI profoundly impacts cultural and creative sectors and industries, changing practices, facilitating new ways of working and making innovative services and products possible. Artists, industry players, and cultural organisations increasingly use AI, for assistance in content creation, production, and management, to predict trends, personalise market content, engage audiences, enhance cultural heritage preservation and accessibility, and many more purposes. Cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI) [1] need to fully harness AI's potential to maintain relevance, expand their impact and value, increase competitiveness, and keep their vibrant, inclusive nature. Embracing and co-creating ethical AI solutions tailored to CCSI needs will, among other benefits, enable the automation of low-creativity tasks, allowing to increase focus on high-value activities that enhance creativity and productivity, thus unlocking unprecedented possibilities. Production times and costs can be reduced, market reach expanded, preservation, interpretation and inclusive access to cultural heritage enhanced, and new job categories could emerge. Although several initiatives are on the ground, a comprehensive understanding of enabling frameworks and factors and of what is still lacking in terms of data, standards, infrastructures, computing power, tools, knowledge and capacity for the CCSI to fully embrace the opportunities opened by AI is essential for effectively integrating AI technologies into CCSI practices and workflows. Proposals should assess the current level of AI readiness in the CCSI, investigate the specific barriers to AI adoption in the sectors, and highlight areas where AI can offer the most benefits. In continuous engagement with the sectors, based on the analysis of current practices and through concrete use cases, proposals should produce strategic guidance to extensively and seamlessly integrate AI into CCSI operations, enhancing efficiencies, averting risks, and facilitating cross-sector collaboration. Based on this analysis, they should develop a set of tailored tools designed to address the specific gaps and leverage the opportunities uncovered during the assessment. These tools should be strategically aligned with the sector's needs, ensuring they provide targeted solutions to enhance AI adoption and maximize its potential benefits. They should be scalable, affordable for smaller, less-resourced CCSI actors and accompanied by related documentation and training materials and documentation. Proposals should address one of the following two options, and are allowed to address both: Develop scalable pilots for innovative AI-enabled products and services across diverse segments of sectoral value chains, in cooperation with CCSI. These pilots are expected to address identified gaps in CCSI operations and prioritise solutions that catalyse innov Programme areas: Horizon Europe (HORIZON), Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Culture, creativity and inclusive society, Cultural Heritage Keywords: Artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, multi agent systems, Business models, Capacity building, Creativity management, Cultural heritage, cultural memory, Data and image processing, Digitalisation/ICT and cultural heritage, Entrepreneurship, Experimentally-driven research and innovation, High performance computing, Intangible cultural heritage, Knowledge transfer, Machine learning, statistical data processing and applications using signal processing (e.g. speech, image, video), Open innovation, Public administration, Social innovation, Tangible cultural heritage, Trustworthy ICT, Visual arts, performing arts, design, AI adoption, AI integration, CCSI, accessibility, audience engagement, automation, business models, capacity building, co-creation, content creation, creative industries, creative innovation, creators’ rights, cross-sector collaboration, cultural and creative sectors, cultural diversity, cultural inclusion., data-driven creativity, digital infrastructures, digital transformation, emerging jobs, ethical AI, federated data, heritage preservation, inclusive AI, innovation ecosystem, knowledge transfer, market reach, multilingual access, personalization, sustainable creative economy, sustainable models, underserved audiences, upskilling

The DIGITAL-2026-AI-PILOTING-10-SCREENING call under the EU Digital Europe Programme supports the development and piloting of scalable cloud-based AI and Generative AI systems for medical image screening in real-world healthcare settings. Projects must deploy trustworthy European algorithms trained and validated on massive patient datasets, focusing specifically on cancer and cardiovascular disease detection, prevention, and early diagnosis. The programme requires large-scale validation across multiple healthcare settings with human-in-the-loop validation by qualified medical professionals. All projects must comply with the EU AI Act, relevant cybersecurity frameworks, and data protection rules including GDPR, and must prepare Health Technology Assessment (HTA) documentation. Solutions must be interoperable with existing health IT infrastructure including EHR, PACS, and RIS systems. This call is part of the broader GenAI4EU initiative investing nearly EUR 700 million in European generative AI capabilities.

EdTech Accelerator is sponsored by European Commission — Digital Europe Programme. Expected Outcome: Deliverables: ​​​​​​ Three open calls for pilots (at least one call per year) launched and managed providing financial support to third parties to at least 20 EdTech start-ups/SMEs from across Member States and eligible countries. A minimum of 60% of the total budget should be spent on Financial Support for Third Parties (FSTP) and the maximum amount per third party can amount up to 150.000 EUR to allow short pilots testing in real education or training environments; Developed and implemented a yearly 12-months incubation and acceleration programme providing a mix of mentoring, networking services, consultancy, training and/or business and access-to-market support to the selected companies; Short pilots implemented in real education and training environments to gather impact assessment data of the selected solutions. Human-centric design methods involving users and strong linkages with learning design methodologies are recommended for the piloting phase. European-wide communication and awareness raising activities; At least one big event per year organised to reach a large number of investors, market partners, ministries of education (or other ministries), education establishments, learning content providers, training providers, and other stakeholders in the field. Objective: During recent years, the education and training landscape has been significantly impacted by rapid technological advancements. Innovations like generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), robotics, or extended Reality, to name a few examples, have significant power to reshape the way we teach and learn. There is a crucial need to support the Education Technology (EdTech) sector in Europe, and in particular European start-ups and SMEs, to develop innovative solutions and technologies meeting European values in terms of ethics, inclusion, accessibility, privacy, security and strong pedagogical foundations . This is particularly crucial given the fast-developing technological landscape. This topic is expected to contribute to the nurturing of an EdTech ecosystem in Europe that drives innovation, creates jobs, and fuels economic growth, while also ensuring pedagogically driven solutions that reach clear educational outcomes. The purpose of this topic is therefore to assist European EdTech startups and SMEs in transforming concepts for educational solutions into products ready for the market. This topic will also help support the effective and ethical application of GenAI technologies to education and training, in alignment with the objectives of the GENAI4EU initiative. [1] This call will contribute to the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) and in particular its objective to support the private actors in the digital education ecosystem. This action should also take into consideration previous work done by the Digital Education Hub Accelerator. 1 The ‘GenAI4EU' initiative aims to support the development of novel use cases and emerging applications in Europe's 14 industrial ecosystems, as well as the public sector. Application areas include robotics, health, biotech, manufacturing, mobility, climate and virtual worlds ( Commission launches AI innovation package ). Scope: The scope is to encompass the establishment of an EdTech-specific environment for nurturing and accelerating growth, providing both business guidance and access to markets for chosen startups and SMEs. Additionally, the scope involves streamlining the integration of the supported solutions into the educational and/or training landscape, which includes schools, universities, training facilities, and other informal learning environments. This integration is crucial for empowering end-users, particularly teachers/trainers and students, along with other stakeholders, in the development and application of educational solutions. Furthermore, testing of these solutions in real educational or training settings should be included for obtaining impact assessment data through shor Programme areas: DIGITAL Keywords: Communication, Curricular education activities with enterprises, Ecosystem building, Education, Education and Training, Education-enterprises partnerships, Enhancing personal skills, Identification of skills needs, Innovation, Knowledge triangle between education, Learning outcomes, New skills and competences for teachers, Personal development, Short - cycle tertiary, Technological innovation, Accelerator, Digital Education Action Plan, Digital Learning, EdTech, Financial Support, Incubation programme, Lifelong Learning, Pedagogy, SMEs, Stakeholder Engagement, Startups

RAISE Doctoral Networks for AI in Science (RAISE pilot) is sponsored by European Commission — Horizon Europe. Expected Outcome: This action builds on the MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026 call (HORIZON-MSCA-DN-2026). The project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes: For supported doctoral candidates: New research and transferable skills and competences in the application of AI in science, leading to improved employability and career prospects within and outside academia; New knowledge allowing the conversion of ideas into products and services, where relevant; Enhanced networking and communication capacities with scientific peers, as well as with the general public that will increase and broaden the research and innovation impact. For participating organisations: Improved quality, relevance and sustainability of doctoral training programmes and supervision arrangements; Enhanced cooperation and transfer of knowledge between sectors and disciplines; Increased integration of training and research activities between participating organisations; Boosted R&I capacity and uptake of AI in science; Increased internationalisation and attractiveness; Regular feedback of research results into teaching and education at participating organisations. Scope: Successful RAISE Doctoral Networks and doctoral candidates will be associated with RAISE, the Resource for AI Science in Europe. They will become part of the RAISE research community and will interact with its other members. As such, the scope of this call is limited to AI (artificial intelligence) in science, as outlined below. Proposals should therefore clearly specify how they meet this “AI in science” criterion. Doctoral candidates are to either develop or significantly participate in the development of innovative AI systems, models, tools or methodologies for their scientific domain. These systems, models, tools or methodologies must substantially innovate the way in which scientific information is analysed and enable a scientific contribution that furthers the state of the art in the discipline of the doctoral research. The development of the AI tool, model or methodology is to be an integral and indispensable part of the research work and be clearly delineated in the research work package. The scientific advancements of the project are to be directly dependent on the capabilities and application of these AI algorithms to drive the scientific inquiry, prediction, or understanding. Proposals are to achieve research results in the domain-scientific discipline of the doctoral research through using innovative AI techniques, going beyond a unique focus on computer-scientific AI development (e.g. to result in publications only in computer-scientific AI-related venues) or the use of existing AI systems, methodologies or general-purpose computational tools for data processing/statistical analysis in an instrumental way. All doctoral candidates should receive dedicated doctoral-level training on AI in science (understood as outlined above). In order to apply for the RAISE Doctoral Networks call, applicants must submit their proposal to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks 2026. At proposal stage, applicants will be able to declare their interest in being considered for the RAISE Doctoral Networks and, if so, they should demonstrate that their proposal falls within the scope of the RAISE call. The proposals submitted under the RAISE Doctoral Networks must fulfil all the admissibility and eligibility conditions of the MSCA Doctoral Networks 2026. The RAISE proposals will be evaluated applying the MSCA award criteria and the MSCA scoring system. At the end of the MSCA evaluation procedure, a cross-panel list of fundable RAISE proposals will be established with the highest-ranking reserve list proposals. The list would be ranked according to the MSCA evaluation scores and comprise proposals with a requested budget as close as possible to 3 times the available budget. Experts will assess the relevance of the proposals on this list to the RAISE topic. The fina Programme areas: Digital, Industry and Space, Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness, Horizon Europe (HORIZON) Keywords: AI, RAISE, AI in Science, Doctoral Networks

HORIZON-RAISE-2027-01-01: Automated Scientific Discovery (RAISE pilot) (RIA) is sponsored by European Commission (Horizon Europe). This call is part of the Horizon Europe 'AI in science' horizontal calls, serving as a pilot for the new European Commission initiative RAISE (Resource for AI Science in Europe). It aims to foster interdisciplinary breakthroughs at the intersection of AI and scientific discovery.

European AI Fund: Capacity Building with European Civil Society is sponsored by Network of European Foundations (supported by Mott Foundation and other private funders). This pooled fund aims to empower a diverse and resilient ecosystem of civil society organizations to participate in policy debates on artificial intelligence and related digital technologies.

As part of the European Commission's €100 million Horizon Europe 2026-27 AI in Science pilot, €28 million is allocated to establish pilot networks of laboratories in priority scientific domains including agriculture and environmental pollution. These networks will use shared AI infrastructure, federated experimental datasets, and coordinated machine-learning workflows to accelerate discovery in agricultural productivity, soil health, water quality, air pollution monitoring, and ecosystem modeling. Funded networks will pilot the operational model for the Resource for AI Science in Europe (RAISE) — a virtual institute described as a 'CERN for AI' — through cross-laboratory data sharing, AI model exchange, jointly supervised doctoral training, exchange schemes, matchmaking events with industry, and federated compute access. The pilot networks are expected to demonstrate scalable AI-for-science governance models, FAIR data and model sharing standards, and reusable benchmarks for AI applied to agricultural and environmental challenges.

AI supporting informed advice for farmers and foresters to improve competitiveness and sustainability is sponsored by European Commission (Horizon Europe). This Horizon Europe call explores how AI can support informed advice for farmers and foresters to improve competitiveness and sustainability. While focused on agriculture and forestry, it may involve policy research related to AI adoption and governance in these sectors.

EIC Accelerator Challenges: GenAI4EU: Creating European Champions in Generative AI is sponsored by European Innovation Council (EIC). This challenge supports start-ups and SMEs committed to bringing transformative AI-driven solutions to market. The goal is to safeguard human autonomy and enhance human expertise, providing significant added value to decision-making processes, services, or industrial workflows.

AI Innovation Package / GenAI4EU Initiative is sponsored by European Commission. The AI innovation package aims to bolster the development and adoption of trustworthy Artificial Intelligence across the EU, supporting AI start-ups and SMEs by facilitating access to supercomputing resources, providing financial aid, and creating a supportive ecosystem for inno…

GenAI4EU is a European Commission initiative mobilizing close to EUR 700 million across Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme, and the European Innovation Council to boost the development and deployment of generative AI made in Europe. It funds generative AI solutions across strategic sectors including manufacturing, robotics, health, energy, agrifood, mobility, and aerospace, with 2026 Digital Europe calls such as Apply AI: GenAI for public administrations and cutting-edge multimodal AI for medical imaging. Some individual biomedical and industrial projects receive EUR 15-17 million.

Horizon Europe AI in Science Pilot Networks of Laboratories for Agriculture and Environmental Pollution is sponsored by European Commission (Horizon Europe RAISE Pilot). As part of the European Commission's €100 million Horizon Europe 2026-27 AI in Science pilot, €28 million is allocated to establish pilot networks of laboratories in priority scientific domains including agriculture and environmental pollution.

Challenge-Driven GenAI4EU Booster (AI/Data/Robotics Partnership) is sponsored by European Commission (Horizon Europe: Cluster 4 - Digital, Industry and Space). This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data and robotics (ADRA) and aims to foster breakthroughs in AI, data, and robotics. It supports projects that allocate tasks for cohesion activities with ADRA and the GenAI4EU central Hub.

AI REDGIO 5.0 Open Call for SME-driven experiments is sponsored by Horizon Europe (AI REDGIO 5.0 project). AI REDGIO 5. 0 is an EU Horizon Europe project enabling AI-driven digital transformation for Industry 5. 0 manufacturing SMEs. Open calls are for SME-driven experiments focused on implementing AI at the Edge and Industry 5.

EU Horizon Europe AI Safety Grant (Recurring) is sponsored by European Commission (Horizon Europe). This program includes dedicated funding streams for trustworthy and safe AI research, directly linked to the EU's regulatory agenda, including the AI Act. Grants support projects on AI robustness, transparency, fairness, and compliance with the EU AI Act.

AI improved advanced manufacturing and production processes in factories (Made in Europe and AI, Data and Robotics partnerships) is sponsored by European Commission (Horizon Europe). This call supports projects that integrate innovative Artificial Intelligence solutions into advanced manufacturing processes. The initiative aims to revolutionize modern factories by enhancing circularity, operational efficiency, and environmental sustainability.